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Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Life has been changing quickly than I ever imagined. The guy who used to face big challenges boldly with a straight chest standing like a wall making every tide turn with hard work is no more alive in me. Dullness, boredom, inactiveness have become primary factors of concern. Life doesnt seem challening or exciting anymore. Its neither throwing me up or down. It has put me in a ship to sail, sail smooth, sail flat, sail as the sailor wishes. I am no more the rider. Gone are those beautiful days when I used to ride my life myself. I used to lie hungry sometimes while I used to party at the biggest places on sometimes. For now, its the same rice plate or chappati plate that I take costing the same as well as tasting the same. Dynamism was something that my name WAS associated with which does not hold good anymore. Let me work to the best of my skills or let me just do what is required, I take home the same pay. Each day, the bank balance keeps decreasing and becomes zero in the middle of the month and by the end of the month it would have reached a negative balance (though that might not appear in the statement)

This is all that we chant all through the month and keep waiting for the monthend. There is nothing else that bothers anyone more than this fact of whether the salary would flow in the month end or not. And some big guns say that we should not work for money or salary. They will flow automatically with excellence. I never believe in this concept. Ask the whole world a question "Is money the most important criteria in life?" You will not find a single person who is telling a truth that it is not. Because, there are people who lie and all of these people are those who are bestowed with enough of money. Obviously, a person who is in deficit of money (maximum portion of the living community) will feel the pinch of it while a person with abundant money (a minority) would say that we must never work for money, we must try to excel, we must be dedicated, money is not important and blah blah blah. Put these people down the street with no money for a couple of days, they will realise what they are speaking is utter rubbish thing. Mostly, these words are used by CEOs, MDs, etc who want to ensure that the working class keeps working and does not ask for money. If it was not for money, then, why do these CEOs themselves are on a job hunt quite often

Coming back to my stride of life. I am starting to get adapted to this inactive kind of a life and each day, I am trying to warn myself to not to stick to this life. It has been killing each and every quality making it get supressed under the corporate life. A working time of 10 hours excluding 2 hours for food, 2 hours for travel, 2 hours for daily routine of getting fresh adds it all upto 16 hours. What is left out is 8 hours which I have to utilize in one or the other productive manner. But then, the tiredness is so high that the eyes do not open, the ears do not see, the mind does not listen, the heart does not agree and the body does not think. It just puts you on the bed like a dead body requiring heavy rejuvenation. And thus, the chances for any growth is almost negligible

Futher, what has been more hurting and disgusting is that I do not have a career path in this job that I do. The job primarily involves direct interaction with customers and resolving their queries about their savings account. And thus, you neither learn anything that can add any knowledge to you nor does your knowledge learnt over the past quite few years with day in and day out of studies is of any use. There is no intellectual growth. Futher, whatever learnt too in respect of customer service, some selling skill building, some abilities, qualities, etc become null and void the moment I change this job. Whatever learnt has no value to add in any terms. Even if I am with the same company and I am posted in a new job profile too, everything learnt till now becomes void. Thus, my thirst for a job that would help me realise my potentials and put my abilities to work has been increasing each day. Companies that give a direct exposure to finances like wealth management, financial planning, cost controlling, investment banking, etc are some avenues that I am rigourously searching for

One good thing that I have been able to establish during this phase of life is the completion of 1st semester of my PGDBA (from Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning). After taking admission somewhere in July/August last year, I got the books. I never touched them till December as my admission was not confirmed. All time till December was spent in making arrangements for payment of the fees towards the course. After I made the payment, I started glancing through the book. Initially, the effort was very high and slowly it started declining due to additional job related reasons. However, God has helped me in this phase and kept me in good spirits to clear the 6 subjects of the 1st semester with a good score too. I have even completed the online assignments for all these subjects which is a bigger hurdle than the exam itself. These assignments not only carry marks but also demand a lot of time (which is not possible to manage). Each subject has 4 assignments to be completed and each assignment is scheduled for 40 minutes. A cool 3 hours for each subject is needs to be spent on the internet completing these assignments. By God's grace, even this has been a smooth sail for me

Life is throwing a lot of challenges on the way. The previous challenges continue to remain, in fact, grow and the new challenges continue to peep into life with each passing day. For the moment, my mission is to relocate to Bengaluru with a new job that would add value to my career and life. Lets see how quick can this task be accomplished by me

Friday, 12 June 2009

One of the most sane and best business decision that I have ever come across in my life is the business model of MoserBaer Home Video. The company is purchasing the copyrights of numerous movies aggressively, printed heavy volumes of these movies and distributing all over the world at an unbelieveably low price. Firstly, they have caught the right business at the right time. Secondly, this is something which can never go down as movies, music and masti are going to rock on the earth as long as human beings exist. Thirdly, the profit margin they have is fantastic. Even if you consider the cost of a blank DVD at Rs 5, writing cost at Rs 2, manufacturing and marketing cost at Rs 3 also, MoserBaer would be earning a fantastic profit at even Rs 25 per CD-DVD. Fourthly, its a boon to everyone as we dont need to steal movies anymore. Fifthly, the piracy will come to an end as the cost of stealing movie or copying it from a friend's PC using a pen drive (cost of travelling, time involved, etc) would be higher than the cost of a CD-DVD available for an outright purchase. Bollywood gets its share too and Indian economy too gets its share of revenues. But one greatest thing that has made me a fan of this business is that the people who used to pirate the movies, sell them to the pubic of India and use that money to kill us are coming to an end. Its a known fact that one of the major source of income to the terrorist activities is the business of piracy. MoserBaer has given a fitting reply by identifying this opportunity of not just discovering a treasure but doing a social service alongwith protection of the nation

I have been aggressively purchasing these movies ever since I got to see them at such a comfortable purchase price. I have been mostly purchasing DVDs that have 3 movies in it and cost around Rs 50-100 depending upon the movie combination. And there are big plans that I have to own a large collection of CD-DVDs that would not appear less than any music store

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Its been a cherished dream to buy a laptop that would help me in keeping my work in an organized manner. Being tech crazy and heavily internet savvy, I depend a lot on information technology to make life move on a desired path. The absence of a computer has been a painful journey for 3-4 months in Hyderabad. The plan to buy a laptop is in my mind ever since I joined JGCC. we bought our first PC at home when I was in class XI. And then, we bought another PC when I was in BCom second year. At this point of time, I wanted to buy a lappy but it did not get possible due to various limitations. And from then, each day, I have been dreaming about buying it. Its taken me almost 3 and a half years to accomplish this goal. It was Friday, the 15th of May 2009 that I fulfilled this dream with a lot of hera-pheri. Of course, doing all gaflas, hera-pheris, is instilled in my nerves. Thats why I have been nicknamed as a punter. It was a total set decision that I am going to buy it this time at any cost. But the biggest question was HOW??? A lot of effort went through and finally I got a loan sanctioned from a bank. I am expected to pay Rs 1500 each month for about 2 years in relation to this purchase. I am very grateful to God for having been so kind and supportive. Whatever I asked, God never said no. God has always been giving it in his own style. I am thankful to the bank that helped me realise this dream. I thank my dad, mom and my sisters for being there for me. And I thank those who prayed to God for this dream of mine to come true

The search was a real big one. From each day's newspaper reading of advertisement; going though the Dell website and making various combinations, reaching the payment page and closing the window; browsing various other websites; mailing experts of this trade like Siddu, Raghu, Santosh, Raju and others; collecting brochures at outlets; visiting Croma, Reliance Digital, etc; mailing various banks' loan departments asking them if they can finance this; applying for numerous credit cards and getting a reply stating "we regret as we can not process your application"; roaming across various shops in Hubli when I was there for a 5 days holiday; discussing all these plans with the approving authority for all my plans

But ultimately, it all came to an end when I saw this marvellous piece of beauty at Computer Shoppee (Court Circle). It was called Acer 4736. It had everything in it from Intel Core 2 Duo processor to 2 GB RAM to 320 GB Hard Disk to camera to Dolby Home Theatre and so on. It was stunning and I loved it. It was a final decison from me that I would be buying this subject to approval from the approving authority. But the cost created a little tension as it was out of my planned budget. I moved on and the next day, I went to Computer Shoppee (Vidyanagar) for a search. I saw the same laptop there and that was costing Rs 6000 less. I was amazed and I asked them why is it so? The first thing was that it was Acer 4736Z (not 4736, there is a 'Z' added) and the difference is only that this comes along with a Intel Dual Core processor and not core 2 Duo. But then, I was suggested to buy a Core 2 Duo by my friends. I conveyed the same to the reseller and he asked me why am I buying this lappy. My only purpose is to check my mails, do some blogging, some newsreading and some entertainment. Then, why do I need such a high end configuration for which I simply need to shed out Rs 4000 more. I was already thinking on these lines and the reseller too advised me the same thing. For him, it doesnt make a difference. In fact, its good if I buy a higher end model so that he earns a better revenue. But the reseller, being known to me as we had made our previous purchases too from them, gave me a right suggesstion. And the another 2000 saving was a jackpot for me as Acer had decreased all its laptop prices just in the morning. What a bargain! God tussi great ho!!! I was much more amazed when 4 BVB college students came running to buy the same laptop and the reseller went crazy as he did not have enough stock. However, he managed to get them within the next 2 hours for them too

With my decision being done, the approving authority was not available at that point of time. However, in the afternoon the approving authority saw it and felt that it was fantastic. Hmmm... whose choice is it after all...

Now that the approval was obtained, I went to my banker and things took some time and I got my DD. All process was over and by 8 in the night, the lappy was at home. What a delight it was for my eyes to see one of my biggest dream come true

We now call it "AMOUR", as per the approving authority's request and my approval :-)

I thank God and everyone who helped me accomplish this goal in my life

Its been quite a long long long time ever since I updated this blog. It was my daily activity once upon a time. But then, things have come to a total halt from the time I have moved from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. There was a genuine reason as I did not have a computer to all these activities. Each time I had to do something, I had to move to the internet center. But now, I have access to it 24x7. Yet, no updates...

It is an all time favorite quote that I always say

"Reasons are many... Intention is one..."

I had many reasons for NOT updating my blogNo. 1, I dont have an access to internet or to computerNo. 2, I cant afford to spend Rs 15-20 everyday to update thisNo. 3, There is nothing great happening in my life that I can blog itNo. 4, Job has made me very busy and I hardly get time to even sleepNo. 5, Staying before the PC for the entire day in the office and then coming back and sitting on a PC. Oh! What a pain

And so on and on and on and on... Reasons are many

But actually speaking, there is only one thing that has held me back. Its that there is no motivation for me to do this. Often, a person does everything for something/someone. The same is the case with me too. And that someone/something never felt any difference irrespective of whether I do this activity or not

I can understand that there was a time when it was practically difficult for me to blog. But now that I do have a laptop, I can definitely do this. But then, I never did it for the same reason that it didnt make any difference to me or to that something/someone

I was just feeling the pulse of blogging that has happened here and I could sense that this blog is hungry. Its not me a difference to anyone but its making a difference to this blog. This blog has almost become like a burial ground with no life in it. I could feel that this blog is striving to come back to life. Its asking its parents to give it the time, space and love it needs. I could sense the pain this blog is going through that other people are recognizing it comments each day but its own parents are not taking care of it

Once a person gives birth, its his duty to look after the creature all life. Else, dont give birth. You dont have a right to bring something to this earth and make it live a helpless dead life like this. So, I have decided that this blog will now get the attention it desires and deserves too. Let it make a difference to me or to other or not is something that I am least bothered about. All that I am thinking is that this blog is my creation and its my duty to take care of it

From now on, I shall definitely ensure that this page will be dynamic and lively

A lot of moments have gone from life just like that UNTREASURED. Perhaps, thats the reason life is not very smooth. You only have that what you have treasured, how can you have something else which is not in your treasure. Its time now to treasure worthy things so that life can be worthy